Konka's son of Microsoft Bob Android TV.

[mikedt]

Saw this in a local store this morning...Konka Android smart TV.

*click on thumbnails to view full size*

Make yourself at home...

Suppose they added the title because some younger people might not recognise a record player, which is for the music player app.


No yellow dogs here.

Presumably intended to be a friendly and familiar interface for Android on a smart TV, but to my mind, it's Microsoft Bob.

 

[zuben el genub]

Looks just like that POS. The dog was still around in XP. Wanted to help you search.

I used to read Annoyances and those avatars and Clippie were the most complained about.

I wouldn't want a smart TV.

 

[kate]

Fun fact:

Microsoft Bob is responsible for the font Comic Sans.

 

[Sandgoose]

all I see is a single microsoft bob screenshot the others do not seem to be working for me?

 

[nickdalzell]

Am i the only one who thought Bob was a great idea at the time? it sorta took after a more inferior program that Packard Bell used to use on their machines, but you could customize it far more. think of it as early inspiration for not only touch-screen UI but also an extremely early predecessor to the Android launcher, albeit more in-house, if you know what i mean--8-bit, 16-color skeuomorphism. now we know where Apple got the idea. I never used Clippy, or more accurately, his name was Clippet. i always used Links, the super-cute cat character--quite miss him/her from my Windows and MS Office days. I actually own a Smart TV, but nothing as sophisticated as what Samsung has out right now. no Smart Hub, no Google TV (although i have a Co-Star box that has Google TV on it), just a toolbar of apps that scroll along the bottom of the screen, and run from Yahoo! a bit limited, but useable. it does have things like a wikipedia browser, weather and radar, app store, and Netflix.

 

[zuben el genub]

After using DOS, and Windows 3.1, I found Bob insulting. Since it never went anywhere, a lot of others didn't like it either.

 

[Slug]

the others do not seem to be working for me?

Something went pear-shaped with the image uploads, I think. Hopefully Mike will revisit soon and sort the problem, as without pictures it's impossible to address the topic.

 

[mikedt]

Something went pear-shaped with the image uploads, I think. Hopefully Mike will revisit soon and sort the problem, as without pictures it's impossible to address the topic.

Don't know what happened there. Re-uploaded them, should be OK now.

 

[funkylogik]

Lol 4 of them still dont show up for me mate (AF app) :beer:

 

[mikedt]

Think that's the app, they show ok in a browser.

 

[divinebovine]

Am i the only one who thought Bob was a great idea at the time? {...} think of it as early inspiration for not only touch-screen UI but also an extremely early predecessor to the Android launcher, albeit more in-house, if you know what i mean--8-bit, 16-color skeuomorphism. now we know where Apple got the idea. ....

It was ahead of its time. The market wasn't ready, and to a lesser extent the state of the art wasn't ready. Thinking of it in this context, perhaps the concept wasn't ready either; people still complain when they have to endure a single moment of tablet-like UI on a desktop (Metro, which is easily dismissed and easily prevented).

Reminds me of the Pontiac Aztek. Everything that was considered wrong in it can now be found in popular models by all manufacturers.

 

[John Bean]

I'm not convinced it was the Bob GUI that was so disliked but the condescending "attitude" it displayed to the user in its attempts to be "friendly".

The same "attitude" could be seen in some text-based applications of the same era, it wasn't really a GUI thing and was equally annoying, treating the user as though they were a naughty child. For example the text-only word processor called "Perfect Writer" (how's that for arrogance?) would use condescending error messages like "Now one of us seems to have made a mistake..." which was enough to make you want to throw something at the wall - which I literally did at one point.

Well designed software can give a novice user a smooth ride without resorting to arrogant and condescending assumptions about their mental capacity and ability to learn.

 

[mikedt]

^^^^^

 

[John Bean]

Thank you for reminding me why I don't use Windows (any version) unless I really need to - and I blame Adobe (I use Lightroom) for that need. That's literally the only personal use I have for Windows even though I have used it professionally as a developer for as long as it has existed.

PS: don't even think of mentioning the only other available Lightroom platform...

/rant

 

[zuben el genub]

I'm not convinced it was the Bob GUI that was so disliked but the condescending "attitude" it displayed to the user in its attempts to be "friendly".

The same "attitude" could be seen in some text-based applications of the same era, it wasn't really a GUI thing and was equally annoying, treating the user as though they were a naughty child. For example the text-only word processor called "Perfect Writer" (how's that for arrogance?) would use condescending error messages like "Now one of us seems to have made a mistake..." which was enough to make you want to throw something at the wall - which I literally did at one point.

Well designed software can give a novice user a smooth ride without resorting to arrogant and condescending assumptions about their mental capacity and ability to learn.

Wordperfect 5 and 6 for DOS didn't have that attitude. Very nice usable GUI and no backtalk. They came well before Bob. Windows was the only program I've ever seen with that nonsense. Corel and Adobe don't bother.
I might have used something similar to Perfect Writer in DOS and didn't see any comments there, either.
http://www.annoyances.org/ - good website that did help.

Help is one thing, but having a stupid dog or paper clip isn't friendly. It's annoying. I'd always go check the above site and follow their advice. I don't like visual stuff interfering with what I'm reading.

 

[zuben el genub]

Thank you for reminding me why I don't use Windows (any version) unless I really need to - and I blame Adobe (I use Lightroom) for that need. That's literally the only personal use I have for Windows even though I have used it professionally as a developer for as long as it has existed.

PS: don't even think of mentioning the only other available Lightroom platform...

/rant

I use Photoshop - tried LR and didn't like it's filing system. However, I also use Illustrator quite heavily, and like Indesign so I'm in the same boat.
My boss found this out when I started working. He wanted a web site that would be identical to printout downloads. He was working with MS Publisher which is a POS. I asked him for Illustrator as it did page layout and would edit PDF files. After that, there was no friction with the webmaster.

 

[John Bean]

OT but just a comment: LR doesn't have a "filing system", I still have my files arranged as I always have and simply configured LR's import module to use the same convention (both name and location) for new additions that I've used for decades.

LR has certain defaults (what doesn't?) about where it puts things but nothing forces you to use them.

Enough OT LR stuff though

 

[mikedt]

Suppose they added the title because some younger people might not recognise a record player, which is for the music player app.

Having said that, I found this in the school museum.

Supports all formats, 16, 33, 45 and 78 rpm.